Prerequisite: MUH 6916 (Music Bibliography & Research) or permission of the instructor.
Required Materials:
Course Objectives: This course is a seminar in the life, career and music of Richard Strauss, one of the leading composers of the late 19th Century and of the 20th century. In this course you will become conversant with:
Communication: It is your obligation to read, follow and complete all assignments and other instructions (verbal or written) given to you in the course of this semester. You are responsible for any information or instructions given out in any of the following ways:
Class Announcements: At the beginning of every seminar meeting, I will normally make brief announcements and reminders of important information related to MUH 6935. You are responsible for this information, whether you are present or not at that time. Be prompt to the seminar meetings.
Email: I will regularly send you brief messages with important information related to MUH 6935, possibly including attachments in WORD or PDF formats. These messages will always have a header that includes the course number “MUH 6935.” It is your responsibility to have a working email account, to inform me of your account address (and any changes to it), and to check your account at least twice every week for any messages that I may send. Feel free to send questions or notify me of problems at any time via email. I will generally respond within 24 hours.
Course Web Pages: A set of web pages for this course has been established at: http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~swarfiel/MUH6935str/6935strhome.html. All course information will be posted there, including copies of the syllabus, schedule, instructions for all assignments, review materials and links to other useful information. When in doubt about any assignment, refer to the web pages. These pages are updated regularly, and I may inform you (via email) of significant changes to these pages.
Office Hours & Out of Class: Official office hours will be posted on my door, and I will almost always be available sometime in the afternoon or early evening on the day of seminar meetings. I will be glad to speak with you at any time that I am not otherwise occupied, but to ensure that I will be available, set up an appointment (via email, phone message or in class). You may check my schedule via the link on my personal home page. For emergencies, please call me at my office and leave a message if I am not in, or use email.
Attendance: Regular class attendance is expected of all enrolled students. As graduate students you will not earn any formal credit for simple attendance, however attendance will be take at every class meeting and poor attendance will affect your grade negatively. In general, you will be allotted 3 hours (1 weekly meeting) of absences with no excuses required. Any missed time beyond those 3 hours will result in deductions from your grade. You are responsible for all materials covered and all announcements made in every class, whether you are present or not.
Attendance Policy for In-class Assignments: No unexcused absence from a scheduled class presentation or other in-class assignment will ever be allowed. Failure to appear for such an assignment will result in a grade of “0” (zero) for that assignment.
Make-up Policy: Should you be unable to attend an announced presentation or other graded activity due to participation in an officially sanctioned UCF event or personal observance of a religious holiday, you must notify me at least one week in advance of that test to schedule an alternate time. For personal or family emergencies (e.g., funerals, serious illness, etc.), you must notify me as early as possible. At a minimum, send an email message as soon as possible to inform me of your situation. In some cases, I will require documented proof of the reason for your absence. You may then be allowed to submit written versions of presentations or other graded activities no later than 48 hours after the originally scheduled time or your earliest return to campus.
Grading: Your grade in this course will be determined by your performance in the following:
| Assignment / Test | Weighting |
|---|---|
| Class Presentations Attendance & Participation | 40% |
| Biography Project | 20% |
| Major Paper | 40% |
The Class Presentations will consist of various tasks related to class discussions, e.g., preparation of small reports, analyses, etc. Your ability and willingness to contribute to class discussions will also be noted here.
The Biography Project will be a combination of oral presentations and a written paper, based on your study and review of a number of the most important books (primarily in English) about Strauss and his music.
The Major Paper will be the culmination of your primary work in this course, and it will consist of a project definition, the accumulation of bibliography and a formal paper of significant length.
The following numeric equivalents apply to all grades (individual assignments & final course grade):
| 100.00 – 92.00 | = A |
| 91.99 - 90.00 | = A- |
| 89.99 - 88.00 | = B+ |
| 87.99 - 82.00 | = B |
| 81.99 - 80.00 | = B- |
| 79.99 - 78.00 | = C+ |
| 77.99 – 72.00 | = C |
| 71.99 – 70.00 | = C- |
| 69.99 – 68.00 | = D+ |
| 67.99 – 62.00 | = D |
| 61.99 – 60.00 | = D- |
| 59.99 - 0.00 | = F |
Questions about the grading or evaluation of any assignment must be raised at the time that item is returned to you. You may not argue for points based on your perception of the grading vis-à-vis another student’s work. Only obvious clerical errors on my part will be corrected.
Items turned in late will be assessed a 10-point penalty for every 24 hours or fraction of a day that they are late. This penalty may be waived or lessened at my discretion, provided I am informed at least 24 hours in advance when you will not meet a deadline.
Final course averages are calculated to the nearest 1/100 of a point. In the case of a borderline final average, I reserve the right to award the next highest grade, based on class participation, preparation, attendance, and related factors.
No extra credit work or alternate assignments will be accepted in lieu of or in addition to the assignments and tests listed on this syllabus.
Due dates for all graded assignments will be announced at least one week in advance.
The Final Examination period for MUH 6935 is scheduled for : Thursday, 30 April 2009, at 7:00 - 9:50 pm. We will use that period for a final seminar meeting, and all graded materials are due by the end of that period.
Class Procedures and your Responsibilities: Because this course is a seminar, it may differ significant from your experiences in lecture and discussion classes at lower academic levels. The essence of a seminar is a collective effort to investigate and learn about a particular topic, which thus places the responsibility for identifying, processing and presenting materials and research results on all members of the seminar. In short, every member of the seminar is expected to contribute in some way or another to every weekly meeting. Passive, i.e., silent or non-constructive contributions will be viewed negatively and may result in deductions from your grade. Assigned readings must be completed before each meeting (or the indicated deadlines) and presenters must be ready at the assigned meetings. Seminar members should also be willing to take the initiative to investigate questions that might arise in a class without waiting for formal assignments, and seminar members should also be able and willing to assist one another with research problems. In short, the idea of a collaborative effort undertaken by a group of scholars should inform all of your work in this course.
To facilitate discussions, you will be given a variety of readings and other assignments on a weekly based (always posted on the course web site). Again, it is your obligation to complete those tasks to the best of your ability on the announced schedule so that you may participate in class discussions and so that your fellow seminar members may benefit from your work.
Reserve Materials: As the semester progresses both optional and required supplementary items will be placed on reserve for reading or listening. You will be informed in class when such items go on reserve, and the course web page will include a list of all such items used in the term. Additionally, some assignments will require materials that are not on reserve. Students are advised to remember that other members of the class may need access to them, and to act accordingly.
You should carry your relevant materials and notebook to all class meetings. You should take notes about any information presented in class, and you should feel free to ask questions at any time if something is not clear to you. Seminar members are encouraged to bring and use computers at seminar meetings.
As a matter of respect to others in the seminar, you are not to engage in conversations unrelated to the current activities of this course, use cell phones or other electronic devices (turn off such items before entering my classroom), or work on anything unrelated to MUH 6935 (assignments for other courses, newspapers, puzzles, etc.) during class time. Individuals engaged in such activities will be asked once to cease. The second time they will be told to leave the classroom, and they will be marked absent for that day.
Seminars are labor-intensive, so in preparing for each class meeting you should allot a minimum of 3-4 hours for every hour of a seminar meeting, which means at least 9-12 hours of outside preparation per week. Although the nature of a seminar is collaborative, you are not, however, allowed to collaborate on any individually graded assignments in this course unless you are specifically directed to do so. (see "Academic Integrity" below)
Academic Integrity: All graded work in this course must be yours alone. You are never to collaborate with anyone on graded assignments in this class. You are allowed and encouraged to work together with your classmates or any other individuals, e.g., professors, students not enrolled in this class, etc., when you are reading assigned readings, studying for tests, and even in the general research that you do before preparing your various projects, but any graded work that you present as your own may not contain the work or assistance of any other individual. Violators will be referred to the appropriate UCF authorities for prosecution (see the latest edition of The Golden Rule for more details).
Accommodations for Disabilities: Any student with a documented disability may receive a special accommodation to complete any requirements of this course. Any student requesting such an accommodation must contact the Office of Student Disability Services (SRC 132; phone 407-823-2371), where such requests are processed. The SDS will ask for documentation of the disability, and they will then notify the instructor of the appropriate accommodations that may be allowed. NB. You cannot simply tell me of your situation, nor can you make requests after the fact, e.g., after you have submitted an assignment or completed the course.
Tentative Schedule: A tentative listing of all class meetings, topics for discussion, readings, and due dates may be found on the relevant web page for this course.